Darling~*
Hermione felt like she was waking up from a very deep sleep. Her limbs felt heavy and her eyes leaden as she cracked them open. She remembered landing on Draco and Lucius Malfoy yelling something and she remembered the horrible spinning that never stopped. She groaned and opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around and thought for a minute that she was back in her bed at Hogwarts. She blinked and gazed around the posh room. A marble fireplace sat against one wall and pale blue curtains hung on the window. She was lying in a huge four poster canopy bed with white silk linens. She flung back the blankets and climbed out of bed and looked around the room some more. She spied a small silver object near the bed on the floor and bent to pick it up. She clasped the time turner back around her neck. This was a very very bad situation. She had no clue where she was or how many hours or days the time turner had taken her back in time. She hadn't seen Draco turn the dials properly so nothing should have happened. She walked over to the mirror hanging above the fireplace and looked at her reflection. It was still the same Hermione with brown unruly curls and deep brown eyes.
She looked down at what she was wearing and chuckled slightly. It was a long old fashioned nightgown. She wore pajama pants or shorts at Hogwarts and she had never ever worn nightgowns before. The door to the room suddenly opened and she jumped.
"Oh missus your awake! I'm terribly sorry I didn't have your tea ready for you earlier missus." Hermione blinked at the portly maid bustling around the room.
"No, uh, its fine ma'am. Um, could you tell me where I am?" The maid stopped and stared at Hermione.
"Missus? Are you feeling ill? Oh, dearie, it's about the wedding isn't it?"
"Wedding?" Hermione said dumbfounded. Where had this time turner taken her? She obviously wasn't in her own time period anymore. Hermione tried to gather her thoughts. She shook her head.
"Yes, of course, the wedding. I'm sorry, I… I had nightmares and it confused me when I woke up is all." The maid smiled sympathetically.
"Well, you certainly look well rested my dear. Drink your tea and let's get you ready. We have an hour before the carriage will arrive." The maid said chipperly. Hermione nodded and sat down in the arm chair as the maid poured her a glass of tea. She took the cup and sipped the tea, grateful for the warmth. She had to figure out where she was and what time it was.
"Um, could you perhaps get me a newspaper? Um…" She was at a loss. But the maid didn't seem to notice.
"Of course dearie. Interested in looking at your fiancé's reviews? Isn't it wonderful that they posted an article about him. You sure are marrying a wonderful man missus."
"Oh, yes. Thank you." Hermione sipped on her tea some more and watched as the maid left the room. She got up hurriedly and began to scour the room for other evidence that might indicate the time she was in. She went to the wardrobe and opened it. Dresses of fine silks and velvets hung in the wardrobe. They were beautiful but definitely old fashioned, atleast from the early nineteen hundreds.
The maid bustled back into the room and over to Hermione. "Here's the paper missus." Hermione took the paper from her and walked back over to the armchair. She scanned the headlines. April 1912. She sipped on her tea and scanned the front article.
"The article about Mr. Malfoy is on page three missus." Hermione choked on her tea and spluttered. She tried to compose herself, knowing that she shouldn't freak out but on the inside she was screaming. Her fiancé was Draco Malfoy?! No. Absolutely not! The maid took her cup from her and flitted worriedly over her.
"My dear, are you alright? Did I make the tea too hot?" Hermione took a breath.
"No, I'm fine thank you. I think I'm finished." The maid nodded and cleared away the tray of tea.
"Go ahead and change out of your shift dear and put on a clean one. I'll go retrieve your mother from the drawing room. She insisted on helping you dress." She said with a wave of the tea towel. Hermione smiled and the maid gathered up the tea tray and left the room once again.
Hermione stood and walked over to the elaborate dresser and ran her hand over the polished wood. She was in 1912. How in the world was she going to get back to her own time? She would have to worry about that later. She opened the drawers of the dresser and her eyes widened. Corsets filled one drawer and bloomers in another. There were no bras or her typical panties. She groaned aloud. This was ridiculous. She had never worn a corset before and from what she had heard and read about them they were damn near uncomfortable. She heard voices approaching the room and quickly shut the drawers and looked like she was messing with her hair in the mirror.
"Hermione! Your awake love!" Hermione turned around and smiled. A woman approached her and embraced her in a hug.
"Mother." Hermione said and smiled. Her mother pulled away from her. Hermione smiled again, knowing full well that this woman was not her mother. She had no idea how this woman would know her name in this era. This was all so confusing.
"Well, look at your shift! What a mess! Take it off and let's hurry and get you ready. Are you excited love?" Hermione smiled and nodded even though she felt as though she were going to be sick.
Hermione felt absolutely ridiculous. Women in the 1900's must have hated wearing clothes at all concidering how much they had to wear. First there was the chemise, which seemed more like her nightgown than anything, then came the corset which her supposed mother laced so tight she could hardly breathe. Next came the corset cover, then drawers and a petticoat. Finaly they lowered her wedding dress over her head over the rest of the garments. It was a beautiful dress with intricate embroidery and lace and long sleeves. It had a long train and the veil flowed down nearly as long as the train itself. Her hair was done up in a loose pile of curls on top of her head in much a similar fashion to the way she had styled it at the yule ball. The whole process took over an hour and she was rushed down the stairs and into the waiting carriage outside. Her mind was reeling from all of it. She was about to get married to Draco Malfoy in 1912! Great Merlin this was crazy! She wished that she had never taken off her time turner at all. Merlin only knew how long she was going to be stuck in this mess with Draco of all people. She hated Draco with a burning passion. He was an insensitive, pompous, uncouth git! And she was to be married to him. There was no way she dared to stop it. If she interfered it might change history as she knew it and that would not be good. So she would just have to deal with whole ordeal. She wrung her hands and her supposed mother placed a hand over them.
"There is nothing to be nervous about dear. Master Malfoy is a fine gentleman and will make a fine husband for you." She said reassuringly.
"Yes mother." Was all Hermione managed to say. She wasn't wringing her hands because she was nervous, she was wringing them because she was angry with all that had happened within the past few hours. If Draco hadn't taken that bloody time turner away from her this never would have happened and she could've left with Ginny and gone to see the boys and have a butterbeer. She sighed and stopped wringing her hands because her mother was looking at her worriedly.
"Really mother, I'm fine. I'm very happy to be marrying him." She gave her most sincere smile but her insides twisted with hatred and disgust.
They arrived at the church and Hermione was helped out of the carriage and swept quickly into the church. Her mother fussed over her dress some and then the doors to the chapel hall opened and she was led down the aisle by a man she assumed to be her father. Music flowed through the high ceilinged building as she approached the alter and the priest.
She faced Draco and drew in a breath as the ceremony began. She had difficulty seeing through the gauzy veil but knew that the man standing before her was Draco. She could see his body was tense and he had to be just as uncomfortable as she was. She wondered if he even realized that it was her that he would be marrying. She ignored half of what the priest was saying but paid enough attention to say 'I do' appropriately. She nearly choked on the words and was surprised when she heard him say them with ease. Her heart sped up and she knew what was coming. The priest said those dreaded five words and her veil was lifted from her face. Her eyes widened in horror and she gripped hard to her bouquet of flowers so as not to let her hand fly to her mouth. The man standing in front of her about to kiss her was not Draco Malfoy. It was his father, Lucius Malfoy standing in front of her and leaning in to kiss her. She was about to step backwards but he grasped the back of her neck and his lips pressed firmly against hers. Her heart stopped for several beats as realization crashed down on her. Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's father was kissing her! Merlin, she was going to faint. He pulled away from the kiss and the priest pronounced them man and wife. Lucius took her hand and muttered something unintelligible. She felt a sudden lightness and warmth fill her body. She smiled and they walked down the isle together, hand in hand and out of the church into the carriage that waited outside of the church.
Once the door was shut Lucius let go of her hand and the sudden warmth and happiness dissipated instantly. She gasped a breath and coughed because the corset would not let her take in air. She took shallow quick breaths and felt light headed and dizzy.
"Ms. Granger, Ms. Granger!" Lucius snapped. She looked at him with fearful and frantic eyes. She felt as though she could scream and cry and kill herself all at the same time. "Ms. Granger calm down!" He said sternly.
"N-no!" She backed away from him, blocking him with her hands. He gripped her wrist and muttered something again. The calm swept over her body like a wave and she was able to breathe normally again. "Now, I am not letting go of your wrist until I am sure you have calmed down. I know this is all insane and very complicated. I'm still trying to figure out what year we are even in." He let out a frustrated sigh. Hermione slowly pulled her wrist out of his grasp and took a few cleansing breaths as deeply as she could with the corset. He eyed her warily and she rolled her eyes.
"I'm fine Mr. Malfoy and you don't need to do that again." She said curtly. He nodded and folded his hands in his lap. "I don't know how we ended up here and in this predicament but we need to get back to our own time." Hermione said. Lucius nodded.
"We ended up here, Ms. Granger, because Draco activated the time turner and you and I were holding it."
"Why isn't Draco here though? He had a hold of it as well."
"No, it merely landed on his chest when you fell on him Ms. Granger, you and I both had a hold of the chain so we were the ones to be transported back in time." He said. "How far back exactly I'm not for certain however."
"It's April of 1912." He glanced at her curiously.
"And how exactly is it that you know that Ms. Granger?" He asked bitingly.
"Because Mr. Malfoy, I asked the maid for a newspaper." She said snidely. He rolled his eyes.
"Very well." He snapped. They fell silent for a span and Hermione spoke.
"So where do you suppose we're headed?" She asked.
"The reception hall I presume to cut the cake and open gifts and such in celebration of the wedding. We will have to be smart when people ask us questions seeing as we hardly know anything about this arrangement." Lucius said. Hermione nodded and a cold ball of worry began to form in her stomach.
At the reception things went by rather swiftly. They cut the cake and then a man and a woman approached the table.
"Son, we would like to congratulate you and we would like to present our gift to you both." Lucius nodded with a smile and accepted the envelope. He tore open the paper and pulled out what appeared to be two tickets. His eyes widened and he showed them to Hermione. She read the heading and her heart skipped a beat. They were first class passenger tickets on the RMS Titanic. She couldn't think of what to say. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, they would die on that ship! There was no hope that they would survive. Lucius grasped her wrist under the table and she feared he would cast the same spell on her again but he didn't. He beamed at his parents.
"How ever did you get these?" He asked. His mother beamed and patted his father's arm.
"Only the best for my son. Now, all your bags were packed during the wedding and the gifts will be packed up on the ship. It's the grandest ship to ever have been built son and I knew you would appreciate it in your line of business. They ship out today headed for New York. We thought that instead of spending your honeymoon here in London you two deserved a nice vacation and a change of scenery to start your new life together." He said and beamed. Lucius smiled and stood, grasping his father's hand.
"This is wonderful!" He pulled Hermione up beside him. "We shall leave immediately." After several congratulations and compliments from the guests they left the reception hall and were taken back to the house Hermione had left from. They separated and changed clothes and then were hurried off once again, headed for the docks to board the RMS Titanic which would sink in a matter of only five days.
